Friday, February 22, 2013

The horsemeat scandal carries on in Britain with more raids on meat producers. It has even spread to Spain where two companies in Alicante have been found to include horsemeat in their burgers. Here though, it is regarded as a problem of labelling rather than an issue with the quality of meat.

There is nothing wrong with horsemeat. The French have eaten the stuff since the 1700s. It is a lot cheaper than beef and contain less fat and less cholesterol. Of course, consumption of horsemeat doesn’t stop in France, the Italians consume twice as much as the French and there are more restaurants selling horsemeat in Belgium than in Paris.

Horse butchers were on the decline in France until the scandal over ready made foods it the press. Now the French are visiting the horse butcher again because at least they know what they are getting from him and they are not paying beef prices for it. The range of products includes steaks, dried sausages, horse pâté and fresh mince which is eaten raw.

It really is down to the sensibilities of the people as to what they will eat. My wife is not fussy about eating rabbit which she considers to be a pet and yet rabbit paella is very popular in this area. I doubt that she would eat horsemeat if she knew what it was and she is not fussed about eating venison which she calls Bambi. My eldest daughter, on the other hand, has sampled ostrich and kangaroo which she said was delicious and I tried venison liver which was far superior to many other forms of animal liver.

Once you have got your head around the fact that the animals you eat have been reared for the table rather than as pets or items in a zoo, then your choice widens. Let’s face it, if people kept cows as pets, we’d be baulking about eating beef.